Removing Deadly Distractions

“As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, NLT)

We are living in a day and age where our lives just seem to be so full of distractions. Distractions come in many forms… social media, T.V., radio, entertainment, cell phones, technology, hobbies, and work. Even friends and family can become distractions when they pull us away from our primary responsibilities and priorities. Distractions can prove to be harmful for the believer because they take away from the one responsibility that every Christian should have at the top of their priority list: spending quality time with God. Given the number of distractions many of us are faced with on a daily basis, our spiritual lives can become severely weakened if we don’t make some kind of effort to minimize these deadly distractions that keep us from spending time with God.

As we see from this scripture in Luke, we are often times no different than Martha, who was distracted by the demands of trying to prepare a big meal for her guests. Her sister Mary, on the other hand, knew that being near to Jesus was the most important thing she could be focused on, and Jesus even said to Martha that Mary had discovered “the one thing worth being concerned about.”

So how can we begin to remove the deadly distractions that erode away at our spiritual lives and begin to discover the “one thing worth being concerned about”? Well, it will start with a greater awareness of what some of our biggest distractions are. Then once we figure that out, we can make a commitment to remove those distractions by replacing them with spending more time with God – in his word and in prayer.

This may require making a commitment to stay off social media or to turn off the T.V. after a certain time each night. Or it may require declining an invite to go have dinner with a friend if you know you haven’t spent enough time with God that week. It will be different for everyone, but whatever it is for you, devote yourself to the process of removing the deadly distractions and replacing them with God. Commit yourself to becoming like Mary and spend some time sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he has to say.